computer woes

No posts lately as my computer has a power issue so can't charge.  Working on getting it fixed and making sure they aren't overcharging me for fiddlies I don't need.  I could do words-only posts, but part of the whole deal here is the photos!

So, no Thanksgiving post yet.  Last week was so stressful I didn't cook much, so no posts from then.  And none of the lentil-ricotta meatballs from three weeks ago (!) because I have already saved a draft with the recipes, but not with the photos - so those are stuck, too.  Next week has a German test and a choir performance in store, so I can't even predict when the next post will be.  I did cook something quick tonight.


Something I do want to comment on, though, is how it can be difficult to cook everyday recipes here in Accra.

Yes, there are supermarkets for expats - four of them in the whole city of 2 million.  Yes, they stock two brands of imported, UHT-treated cream, and two brands of imported butter, two brands of UHT milk.  Yes, there are three kinds of cheese you can count on finding - and they're mass-produced in Lebanon with little attention to subtlety, detail or taste.  On the worst days, a block of orange cheddar from the store can taste like the bleach they used to clean the cooler last night; the best days find imported Cathedral City from the UK.  I long for cheeses that don't come labeled or shrinkwrapped.


Half of the time I devote to this blog is spent narrowing out recipes with ingredients I can't hope to find in West Africa, even in Westernized Accra.  Beef short ribs, arborio rice, sage, portobello mushrooms.  Fresh milk.  Different varieties of potatoes?  Are you kidding?  And don't even think about those lovely fall-inspired recipes I'm seeing lately, full of cool-weather harvests.  The weather here just doesn't get cold.

They talk about asking your deli counter for this-and-that, or going to the bakery aisle.  Our local bakery aisle stocks staples like maraschino cherries, Aunt Jemima sugar syrup for four times the usual price, four flavors of cake mix, and coconut milk.  Plus flour and sugar.


Still, there are things in the tropics you really can't beat.

We get the sweetest pineapples in the world (as Ghanaians proudly claim) year-round.  Mangoes picked off the tree the same day they're cut for me and packed in a rubber (plastic bag) are about to come back into season.  We get streetside roasted plantains to be snacked on with flavorful local peanuts.  We get boiled corn, dunked in coconut water and served with chunks of mature, crunchy coconut flesh - again, just starting to come back into season.


Still, I do wish I could find just half of the things I'm tempted by on Gojee.

Next move, I've promised myself, will be to a place where all these luxuries are easier to find, even, than Dublin.  We'll see how that goes!